Microsoft’s Xbox 180 won’t inhibit online-only games on the Xbox One

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Microsoft came out beating the drum for cloud services and restrictive online requirements when it announced the Xbox One at the end of May. Since then, Redmond has completely flip-flopped on its online requirements and used game restrictions, but the Xbox Live Cloud service hasn’t been harmed in the process. Even though the Xbox One won’t require you to connect to the internet, individual games on the platform most certainly will.

With the launch of the Xbox One, Microsoft will be making Xbox Live Cloud services available to game developers. “Cloud” is obviously a very nebulous term used in marketing speak, but it has real benefits to both developers and gamers alike. Over 300,000 servers worldwide can be allocated dynamically in service of both multiplayer and single-player games. Sure, the Xbox Live Cloud can work as online storage for game assets, but it’s much more than that. By offering server-side computation as well, Microsoft’s ubiquitous cloud offering gives developers affordable tools that they just didn’t have in previous generations.

Jon Shiring, an engineer at Respawn Entertainment, took to his company’s blog to speak about the benefits of the Xbox Live Cloud. In detail, Shiring explains the problems that go along with having player-hosted game servers, and why having affordable dynamically scaling dedicated servers is a huge benefit for multiplayer games. Microsoft’s Azure-based Xbox Live Cloud allows developers like Respawn to improve AI, remove unfair player advantages, speed up matchmaking, and dedicate all resources on the local machine to improve the visuals and frame rate.

Since Respawn’s game Titanfall is effectively multiplayer-only, it requires an always-on internet connection. Despite the fact that Microsoft is publicly slinking away from internet requirements, some games on the Xbox One will still demand an internet connection to function at all. Obviously, the benefits Microsoft originally laid out for its Xbox Live Cloud service can and will thrive in this ecosystem.

Single-player games will definitely benefit as well. Computation-intensive sections of a game, like large dynamic backgrounds, can be handled in the cloud while latency-sensitive portions like aiming and damage calculations can happen in real-time on the console itself. For example, a developer could use the cloud to render an accurate depiction of what the night sky looks like where you live while the console itself has more resources freed up to improve moment-to-moment gameplay.

Fundamentally, the fact that Microsoft is offering cheap access to cloud storage and computing for all participating developers is a win for everyone. This initiative lets developers expand game worlds, takes a substantial load off of the Xbox One’s CPU and GPU, and has the added benefit (for Microsoft) of keeping most people connected to the internet for all of these features. The Xbox One will need an internet connection for a nontrivial amount of games, and that’s okay. Provided the gaming industry learned its lesson about failing gracefully from the SimCity debacle, the Xbox One could have a significant edge over PS4 if the Xbox Live Cloud delivers on its promises.

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So pretty much what MS was trying to do with it’s draconian rules is to pull down the customers pants and don’t use any lube, nice going but it didn’t work. Shame on ET I’m trying to read your articles and all the sudden a video opens up right in the middle of the article, would it kill them to put them on the side?

Turk February

Draconian means old rules that have been long gone because of the advancement of technology and human nature. How was Microsoft’s strategy at the beginning considered Draconian when they attempted to be the first console to drive digital downloads. So when you Try something New and it fails its not Draconian, stop using big words to drive a point on a piece of subject matter you don’t even understand.

So you feel that used games and offline play are considered offenses? Thank you for clarifying your stance to everyone.

Phobos

As if I care, they already lost a customer because of it. Trying to force you to a 24hr check in is pointless for a console, Kinect really? why not give them the choice and save $ if you don’t want Kinect? After all MS is trying to grab your attention and $$ and if you don’t like what they offer or the demand they required in order to use, you as the consumer has the right to let them know why wont you buy their products. Consider it as a form of bitching if you will, but it works.

Adam

You were never a customer – you’re just trolling like with other articles where you post whiny nonsense. Your post had nothing to do with the article, so go play cry baby someplace else. The PS4 is the product for you, so go read about that and be excited instead of WHINING.

Phobos

So technically after you the XBO you will still need buy the xbox live cloud for Sp as well? Meaning you will get better performance if you buy the xbox live cloud? Boy this is getting better. Might as well add the xbox live cloud to the list of complains. Will the performance be that bad that you need the cloud for SP?

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, don’t like it too bad.

wqw

No, he’s expressing his opinion. You, on the other hand, have been swallowing too much Ballmer.

VirtualMark

I think the term you’re looking for would be archaic. Perhaps you should learn some definitions yourself before correcting others? I think you missed the point he was making too.

wqw

First of all the fact that you think draconian is a “big word” (which is probably why you capitalize it) tells us plenty about your abilities. Second, the problem is you force people to use something they dont, not trying something knew. Same reason Windows 8 sucks.

Guest

Yep! If Microsoft delivers on what it promises with the cloud, it could definitely bring some awesome experiences.

Their approach seems different from Sony in that Gaikai will do everything in the server and just stream the visual feed to you, but that makes me wonder if the PS4 is practically idling because of it.

Microsoft’s strategy sounds interesting, splitting the workload so the Xbox doesn’t just sit there twiddling it’s thumbs, but also easing pain on the servers. Depending on how much more work can be shifted to the cloud, it could potentially allow Xbox One’s graphics to grow alongside the PCs. Potentially. Who knows though?

Also, in response, it seems that one of the Sony Execs said that they can do the same thing with their servers. I don’t know if its a buffer statement because they feel cloud service doesn’t seem as ambitious in comparison, but yeah. In a sense, Microsoft’s approach seems to make more financial sense because it still pushes your Xbox, and that could result in some power/money savings for the servers.

Then again, Xbox Live doesn’t have streaming for 360 and OG Xbox games. At least not that I know of. If they’re building out thousands of servers though, I think they’ll probably introduce it themselves at one point.

Joel Detrow

There’s really no reason a PS4 game couldn’t do exactly the same thing. The problem, of course, is that once again playing even a single-player game would rely on an internet connection with speed and stability that many in America just don’t have. Still, it would be optional, which is all anyone asks of such a thing.

Guest

I know what you mean, and I agree.

I think Microsoft is just betting by going a bit ahead, making people a bit uncomfortable now for prospect later. It’s hard to deny that the internet is growing fast now with no slowing down quite yet, and I think that’s what they’re hoping for. They want the Xbox One to have the distinct advantage that while the home hardware isn’t evolving, it’s set up in such a way that the graphical and gameplay prowess can keep growing even though the hardware is not. The idea sounds pretty clever, but we’ll see how it does in practice.

I know the PS4/dedicated servers definitely have the potential to do it, but they may be behind in the sense that they didn’t create their own technology — mixture of hardware and software to create a system where the console and server can dynamically share processing loads or however it works.

I doubt it would become a problem, but lets just say for example: 3 years pass after launch. The newest and best computer specs are starting to make a pretty noticeable difference in capability and visual fidelity over the PS4 and Xbox One. The Xbox One games are starting to make new games coding for more server power, already pushing the local Xbox hardware to the limits, but still allowing fidelity to keep up with PCs. The PS4 is still hanging in there, but soon it’ll be beat — but ah! You can stream Gaikai with the power of a monster server for nice graphics — perhaps even better than the average PC enthusiast! But then the PS4 isn’t doing much work and it almost seems redundant that all that powerful hardware is sitting there. Also, it strains the server if everyone is streaming and each person uses a ton of server resources. The energy costs would skyrocket too.

Again, I don’t think it’d really become a problem — but the general idea is, I get what Microsoft is planning, and it sounds like a clever solution to those who would say the consoles could never keep up. Now it’s up to Microsoft to prove it can be done.

Adam

So how do You know that Sony has this kind of server software implementation – do you have inside information? Microsoft has been working on this software to support their console and offloading game calculations for 4 years now, and as mentioned is building out new data centers with 1,000’s of servers – I’ve heard no mention of Sony’s plans with even the slightest details. I think you’re hoping at the moment.

Guest

I’m not hoping, I know that they don’t have the technology for that.

They bought Gaikai, but I know that it’s just streaming from a server. It’s not split computation. If you read my comment I mentioned in the second paragraph that they probably didn’t prepare the servers to be able to do something like what the Xbox One does with servers.

I don’t know why you’re under the impression that I said they are able to do it. They aren’t.

Adam

Oh and there’s no reason the Wii U, XBox 360, PS3, etc., couldn’t have similar implementations but they weren’t part of the feature set, but thanks for the suggestion of possiblities – when Sony announces they have invested in thousands of cloud servers & data centers that can certain computations other than simple matchmaking and such then that would be cool. Thanks, for informing us that it requires internet – that’s is why it’s called cloud computing; Online mutilplayer games require internet hence the “online” part.

Daydreamer

To all the losers who spit lies of ‘cloud hype’, it’s pretty clear you’re on notice.

Great that you wrote a piece informing gamers of the positive aspects of server side computing, but in the future bring some balance to the piece and mention some of the negatives as well.

Relying on servers means those games rely on several companies to keep those servers and services running.Users won’t be very happy when they go back and play a game they paid full price for that is 2-3 years old and has since gone dark. Worse still is a game company could fold soon after release and no longer maintain the service. This model works with MMOs because they have a recurring revenue stream and control everything in one shop but relying on independent companies to maintain API changes on systems they don’t control could be troublesome.

luis3007

The only company that provides de cloud service is Microsoft, the publisher can’t take the server side down once it launches unless MS pulls the plug. And why should they? The Xbox Live Gold you pay monthly cover those costs already

Cameron

MS supplies the hosting but it is not free. Developers still have to pay to access that hosting and I doubt it is an infinite pool of resources for a one time cost.

Ironmanxrs2

I can’t see it making sense any other way though. It should be a one time cost otherwise it would be a PR fiasco if a game gets shut down. Im sure they would negotiate special rates based on how cloud intensive certain games are. MMO’s for instance would require continuing payments but shooters should be a one time charge. For the Developer, its easier to rent server space with MS than create their own server farm.

Adam

As luis3007 stated, Microsoft provides the servers and datacenters exclusively hence their large investment into building out data centers to support the Xbox One. Apparently, you didn’t understand the article.

Cameron

The cloud service is not a free service to the developers. I understood the article just fine.

Magnus Blomberg

I agree and what about latency? Isn’t that why OnLive was not more successful?

Even if you only do non critical work in the cloud there whould have to be som problems synking with the local machine because of latency right?

FUZZY

Any idea if xb1 users will be multi platform for multiplayer with the pc’s? Because im all for that.

Joel Detrow

As long as players on both systems may choose between only playing with other XBO/PC players or allowing both, I think this makes perfect sense, especially now that consoles are basically just PC hardware.

luis3007

The tools to develope that kind of game will be available to publishers like the Windows 8/Windows Phone are. Will the developers use them? That is the real question!!

Ramtha604

Quote: ‘For example, a developer could use the cloud to render an accurate depiction of what the night sky looks like where you live while the console itself has more resources freed up to improve moment-to-moment gameplay.’

This is what I’ve waited for all of my gamer-life. I’m sooo looking forward to features like this in my games. So cloud computing for games really is as useless as I imagined it to be? Or are there actually any practical examples of ways in which games could benefit from support from the cloud (apart from dedicated multiplayer servers, which have been around for over 15 years independently from ‘clouds’)?

Guest

You’re cherrypicking. That is not the only thing it was going to be used for — that’s just starting out. The games at launch won’t utilize the extra power available via the server perfectly. Over time more will be used for other things, like AI and finally perhaps matches with over 100 players at once, although I would think its too hectic to enjoy.

Honestly, you said it’s not practical, but what was mentioned in the article sounded pretty practical to me… what exactly is your standard for practical? Tell me what you want the server to do in order to be considered practical, because you haven’t even mentioned one example.

Ramtha604

I asked for examples and in response you ask me for examples? Seriously?

What gives you the idea that AI is a practical application for cloud computing for games? From my basic understanding of it, AI doesn’t magically become better if you throw more computation power at it. AI as it is used in games of today is just an algorithm, not a simulation of a neural network that takes an insane amount of computing power to run in real time.

There wasn’t mentioned anything besides dedicated servers (which are nothing new or cloud specific) and large dynamic backgrounds like a realistic local night sky (what’s the point of this? who wants this? who would even notice?).

Guest

It could be the difference between, say, playing a war game without scripted movements of NPCs of 10 soldiers, vs 100 all moving uniquely for more immersion. Also because of the extra computational power, AI won’t be nearly as dumb. If you put in too sophisticated of an AI, that takes away the available processing for physics etc. Oh, I don’t know. You and I both aren’t some Harvard PhDs that think of genius applications that you and I can’t see yet.

I’m sure you’re absolutely right and all those geniuses don’t know what the hell they’re doing or what the consumer would like. Not the executives that killed your pet dog that I’m sure you hate — the actual engineers and visionaries for these things. They’re probably just drooling in their seat, right?

Ramtha604

My point regarding AI was that the reason for lackluster AI in current games is not a lack of client-side computation power, but primarily lies in the difficulty of designing a capable AI in the first place. I’m not saying that the AI of a game won’t be calculated in the cloud one day, I’m claiming that at the point, where we are right now, AI is so basic that it could demand 10 times more processor time and still wouldn’t seriously hurt the overall game performance.

I never had any pet dogs, I don’t hate anyone, I don’t envision anyone as drooling in their seat. Anyway, that’s irrelevant.

My personal opinion is that the whole cloud-thing for Microsoft was a control-scheme in first place (didn’t seem to quite work out in the end), marketing buzz second and just _maybe_ really has some practical value for the games third.

What it may really come down to regarding the article: if there are more practical (and therefor relevant) examples for cloud computing for games than realistic local night skies, why weren’t those given instead? And: what would some such examples be?

Phobos

That’s one the things I have notice about games this last few years the AI is horrible, yet they focus more in graphic details. The only games that got my attention with the AI was Unreal Tournament 99 and UT2k04 granted they follow scripts in some modes but the idea of given them orders to defend the flag, to give you cover or to follow you, to hold specific positions or to set them lose to defend or attack at will it was a pretty neat. In UT2k04 they implemented voice command via a microphone which was even better. Granted nothing to do with the cloud.

Guest

Honestly I don’t know — I’m not claiming to be an expert here. Although if you look at the MMO World of Warcraft, which coincidentally I did play for a year or two, a lot of spun off computation was involved, especially at the peak of the game’s fame, when Blizzard upgraded the servers. Boy, let me tell you — they really went all out with the servers.

Although the computation wasn’t for things like better night skies or things like that, it was mentioned that a lot of the underlying number crunching and other things were done server side so as to minimize input lag even more, especially for those with slower connections.

Yeah, it’s not much — but the thing is, I’m willing to give Microsoft the benefit of the doubt that they have a way to leverage the extra power in a meaningful way.

I mean, I’m sure you read the article about the new server for 700 million. I just can’t see why they would invest so much in it if they weren’t absolutely confident about what it could provide. If they can’t deliver on their promise, people hold their money.

Ramtha604

I don’t think they actually have a way to leverage the extra power for games in a meaningful way at the moment, because I suppose if they did, they’d show off all their ideas to build as much hype as possible. That’s not to say something good won’t eventually be brought about by it.

I just went over the XBox One $700M data center article. Cloud computing for games was referenced at one point in the text, I’m kind of wary about how much of that data centers resources is actually intended for games and not for various other cloud services, though.

Adam

Then your understanding is completely incorrect – AI definitely benefits from exactly more computation power because it is an Algorithm; and Algorithms can be processed faster with faster more advanced CPU’s which for example, allow more characters and NPC to have more detailed AI due to the processing power to handle more AI algorithms and allow those AI algorithms to be more advanced – it is lack of processing power that holds back advances in AI. Simple research on AI would’ve told you that; Fortunately, I’m a recent computer science student, so I actually do know what I’m speaking of unlike you.

Ramtha604

A recent computer science student? orly? I’d have given a recent computer science _graduate_ student a bit more credit, but apparently that’s not what you are. Please do point me to where that simple research would have led me so we can end this discussion right here.

Phobos

Buddy no one gives two shits of what you do in here.
And you accuse me of trolling lol.

Adam

@Phobos – yep, I did because you can’t post anything but whiny negativity – I’m not your “buddy” by the way.

@Ramtha604 – you would need it posted it all for you; Here you can read where newer processing power allowed for better and more more advanced AI (this was one the articles I read for a class) http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/14840/Artificial-Intelligence-in-Games Great site if your into coding, but I doubt you are. Ahh heck, I won’t even make you read it all; here’s a portion describing how more processing power made for new possibilities because of advancement in processing power!
“The first games and artificial intelligence algorithms had to settle for limited capabilities of machines available at that time, with the processor frequencies no higher than 2 MHz. The first PCs brought in new possibilities and new applications. After PCs with 386/486 processors became the standard for a home computer, programmers were given new possibilities; that led to the start of a race between game development companies.”

Oh and the discussion just ended.

wqw

I havent seen a single post in which you dont have Microballs down your throat. Atleast make an effort to seem neutral, if you’re going around accusing people.

Ramtha604

I can see AI being limited by 2 MHz CPUs. I can’t see why you’d think that would matter for todays multi-GHz-multi-core processors, though.

To quote another part of the exact article you pointed me to: “At present, when in most homes, one can find PC-class computers with Pentium IV processors with frequencies in the range of 3 to 4 GHz, it is being considered to let computer games make use of the most advanced and sophisticated methods of artificial intelligence: neural networks, genetic algorithms, and fuzzy logic. In the age of Internet and network games, artificial intelligence systems in games have been given new tasks: a computer player should, in its behaviour and strategies of playing, be indistinguishable from a real player on the other side of an Internet connection.”

I think this statement is more applicable to the current topic than your quote about 2 MHz processors.

If you want we can leave it at that.

Phobos

Doesn’t software play a bigger role in AI than CPU power? According to crazy Adams we need an IBM power7 795 server to run decent AI?

themrvin

Can’t wait for my Xbox to play Forza 5, Halo, Titanfall, and Dead Rising. These are basically the only reason I play video games. People should choose the console that fits their lifestyle better. Quit complaining, they will both be great consoles.